First off I guess I get confused over whether there is any difference between no-gi Brazilian jiu jitsu and "submission wresteling"

The only difference I can think of is that sometimes in rare circumstances wrestlers are able to out point other brazilian jiu jitsu trained people in a competition setting. Some tournaments that call them self submission wresteling tend to cater more towards wrestlers turned grappelers while gi based federations will hold no-gi tournaments that draw people trained initially in gi. In fact pretty much everyone worth anything in competition started out in gi and then transitioned over once they developed their base. Both are equally important parts of the art.

NAGA (north american grappeling association) puts on tournaments across the nation. It's a great lower tier tournament for people wanting tournament experience.

For really top level competition the holy grail of no-gi jiu jitsu is ADCC which is an inivitation only grappeling tournament of the best no gi jiu jitsu practictioners in the world.

IBJFF which holds the most prestigious gi grappeling tournaments also holds world championships in no-gi that are also extremely prestigious to win in.

I've been rolling for about a year now and recently got stomped in my first NAGA competition by wrestlers that used positional control to out point me while I tried for submissions in the gi and no gi division. It was a great experience and showed me a lot of things I can work on to really fill out my game.

Until recently submission wrestling was pretty much a dead art.Now that MMA is becoming more popular its making a comeback.

I suggest you go to youtube and look up Tony Cecchine and catchwrestling.
Sport wrestling in schools dont allow submissions.Real catch as catch can wrestling is all about sumission.Catch traces its roots back to acient Greece.
There is also a big difference in the philosophies of catchwrestling and jujitsu.Catchwrestling was made for real fighting .Thats why wrestlers use control and dont fall to their back.Jujitsu was devloped in dojos.
Much of modren jujitsu comes from catchwrestling.American catchwrestlers dominated martial arts in the early 1900s.Many went to Japan to teach.In the 70s it had another brief surge of pop. in japan.

Sakaraba,ikuhisa the punk minowa,Josh Barnett are a few catchwrestlers in MMA.

I have noticed more and more of these types of tournaments just
how popular are these things? Does anyone on this board participate
in them?

Submission wrestling is the best self defense there is, but it requires a high fitness and strength level. It is a power/endurance sport. If you are going to utilize it effectively in self-defense scenarios, you need to cross-train in boxing or muay thai.

It will time to get good but when you do get good, very few people will be able to beat you. It will take a lot of effort and the younger you start, the better.

If you are old, out of shape and don't want to suffer the aggravation just buy a gun and practice drawing it quickly and shooting.

First off I guess I get confused over whether there is any difference between no-gi Brazilian jiu jitsu and "submission wresteling"

The only difference I can think of is that sometimes in rare circumstances wrestlers are able to out point other brazilian jiu jitsu trained people in a competition setting. Some tournaments that call them self submission wresteling tend to cater more towards wrestlers turned grappelers while gi based federations will hold no-gi tournaments that draw people trained initially in gi. In fact pretty much everyone worth anything in competition started out in gi and then transitioned over once they developed their base. Both are equally important parts of the art.

NAGA (north american grappeling association) puts on tournaments across the nation. It's a great lower tier tournament for people wanting tournament experience.

For really top level competition the holy grail of no-gi jiu jitsu is ADCC which is an inivitation only grappeling tournament of the best no gi jiu jitsu practictioners in the world.

IBJFF which holds the most prestigious gi grappeling tournaments also holds world championships in no-gi that are also extremely prestigious to win in.

I've been rolling for about a year now and recently got stomped in my first NAGA competition by wrestlers that used positional control to out point me while I tried for submissions in the gi and no gi division. It was a great experience and showed me a lot of things I can work on to really fill out my game.

You're pretty much correct. Formally, it's not really supposed to be, but no-gi BJJ kinf of is submission wrestling. The only thing is that there are many more chokes and submissions in no-gi BJJ because you can use the gi against the opponent (think of all the collar chokes there are in BJJ.... ) no-gi is also way faster.

NAGA competitor here! It's slanted toward BJJ, but otherwise they are a good way to sharpen aspects of your hand to hand regimen. I don't like the points system though. I think it should be tap out or choke out or NO WINNER!

Case in point, I dominated a BJJ BB at a tournament. He laid on his back for the entire six minutes trying to keep me in guard. I passed twice and missed an armbar attempt and an ankle lock. He did not try a single submission, but he won.

Of course, he was hispanic and so were two of the judges. So, go figure.

And in another example, I road the clock in the open division against a tough farm boy and I won because I hit a couple of escapes. Not fair to him, he dominated me every step of the way.

Submission wrestling is the best self defense there is, but it requires a high fitness and strength level. It is a power/endurance sport. If you are going to utilize it effectively in self-defense scenarios, you need to cross-train in boxing or muay thai.

I love BJJ/SW and Judo I want to take classes but since it`s grown
in popularity how do you know the difference between a good
school and lousy instructor trying to make a quick buck

Submission wrestling is the best self defense there is, but it requires a high fitness and strength level. It is a power/endurance sport. If you are going to utilize it effectively in self-defense scenarios, you need to cross-train in boxing or muay thai.

I love BJJ/SW and Judo I want to take classes but since it`s grown
in popularity how do you know the difference between a good
school and lousy instructor trying to make a quick buck

BTW in a street fight is it wise to take a fight to the ground?

IMHO, look at their associations. How long it took them to make rank. Do they have any competitive titles.

Take me, I've got a brown belt in Judo, it took me over 4 years to get 1st class brown and a year and a half to make blue in BJJ. I won't see black in either in under 5 years.

If the instructor claims to have all the answers, he is most assuredly a fake.

a great self defense move, that is basically impossible to get out of, once locked properly is the rear naked choke. its very simple too. Im sure there is some stuff on youtube on how to do it properly, ill see if i can find a link and post it later

how to: rear naked choke, also wanted to mention this can be done while standing up, with your legs hooked in, standing up without legs hooked in, and on the ground both with and without legs hooked in.